The beginning

For a while I have wanted to start a blog but was not sure what type of things to write about. My old blog consisted of a mixture of journalistic style pieces that I had completed during my journalism degree. With my journalism tutors voice in my mind, I would sit and compose various posts that I thought would interest the masses and make me a famous blogger. This did not happen.

It takes lots of dedication and although there are many blogs about different things, a keen interest in fashion and beauty seemed to help a young female of my age, trying to break into the blogging world. I did not want to blog about my clothing, I don’t really see myself as a style icon that people would look up to. (I do not believe there is anything wrong with the way I dress but it is nothing to write home about, which is why I didn’t.)
I blogged about the tea shops I visited, the films I went to see and the photographers I found interesting. I did this throughout my final year of study and for a year after I left university, until the real world of a full time waitressing job set in and a boyfriend came along. By the time I stopped blogging I had also started to lose interest in my own voice.

Now I have decided to just talk about my life and what interests me, so to catch you up on what has happened since the waitressing job…

I moved to London and started working as a receptionist within an office. My boyfriend left to join the traveling community back in January and not long ago I returned from visiting him in Bali. Ever since landing back in the UK I have found it very difficult to be happy in my life here in London.

The job that I am doing has always been a ‘filler job’, one that I hoped would broaden my skills within a professional working environment. It has certainly done that but it has also made me think that there must be more to life than the 9-5, or in my case the 8:30-5:30.

I also realised that the majority of my monthly salary was paying for a roof over my head and food to eat. I was working simply to survive rather than to enjoy the money I had worked hard to earn. Many people will probably laugh and say ‘welcome to the real world’ but surely there is more to life than this.

London is filled with so many people but can also be a frighteningly lonely place to live. On my return from Bali I came back to an empty apartment and spent the weekend on my own, feeling very miserable. You could say I was suffering from holiday blues – mega holiday blues!

Whilst sat behind my computer screen an STA email came through that advertised one way flights to Australia, (the current location of my boyfriend) so I sent him a picture of it and jokingly said, ‘shall I do it’. His response of, ‘if you are serious about it let me know your plans.’ surprised me because he had never really hinted at wanting me to join him out there. In the past when I had joked about getting on a plane to join him, he had questioned ‘how would you afford it’ or ‘what about your job’. The questions that needed to be addressed but not the responses I had wanted from him.

When he asked me what my plans were I spent the morning conjuring up ideas of how I could make this work and I couldn’t get the idea of meeting him in Australia out of my mind.

To cut this long winded story short, I decided that my job was a job I could easily leave behind and not miss, as was my lonely life in London.

I have therefore decided to base this blog on a blonde (me) finding a beach to spend my time on rather than spending it behind a desk.

I would love to hear stories and advice from fellow bloggers so feel free to comment on my posts.

4 thoughts on “The beginning”

Thanks for joining my blog, Danielle. I hope you find some things of interest and even more for inspiration. I suggest that we as bloggers “respond” to life — make meaning out of it. Tell us what is happening in your outer life, then what it means to the inner you. This is a time of coming of age for you. We have many coming of age times in our lives, not just when we are young. Take advantage of this time of change, explore it, wring the most from it, and then try to see what lessons it has to take forward into the future. I’m excited to read your daily life stories. My coming of age travel stories in my memoir, AT HOME IN THE WORLD: TRAVEL STORIES OF GROWING UP AND GROWING AWAY, may be of interest to you — especially the later chapters. I admire your courage of telling your stories. Keep it up.

Hi Rhonda, I think I have sorted out the follow button situation. I am looking into using a different one but for the time being the ready made wordpress widget will have to do. Hope that makes it easier for you to follow me now?
I find writing about my experiences on my blog allows me to learn lessons from what I have been up to as it forces me to pause to evaluate what has recently happened in order to tell the story.
I will be sure to take a look at your post. 🙂